Loyal customers are imperative to keeping your revenue flowing, spending almost 70% more compared with occasional customers. For many eCommerce brands, this means that focusing on repeat business is absolutely essential. But how do you turn an occasional customer into a regular? Almost 60% of small business owners report that having a good relationship with their customers is key to driving loyalty, and they’re right. A good relationship with the brand inspires customers to keep coming back for more. But there are many other ways that you can drive customer loyalty and turn your occasional customers into ones who couldn’t imagine shopping anywhere else. Check out these innovative strategies to encourage customer loyalty that you might not have considered before.
Shutterstock Licensed Photo – By Tashatuvango
Flash Sales
Flash sales aren’t just a good way to encourage new customers to shop from your brand; they can also encourage your existing customers to come back and make another purchase. Flash sales create a sense of urgency as typically, they are only running for short duration of time, leaving customers eager to take advantage so that they don’t miss out on the limited-time prices. A countdown timer on your website or in the flash sale promotion can also create a sense of urgency that customers will find difficult to resist. To promote loyalty further, you might even want to consider running an exclusive flash sale for existing customers only, as a thank you for their continued business.
Prioritize Customer Service
Loyal customers tend to be the ones that feel they are getting a good standard of customer service. If your customer does not feel valued or listened to when shopping with your brand, chances are they are going to start considering taking their services somewhere else, where they feel their needs as a customer are more heard. If you want loyal customers, providing amazing customer service is an absolute must. Even the smallest of interactions that a customer has with your brand can make or break their impression. Whether you’re dealing with the customer in-person, over the telephone, via email or web-chat or on social media, a quick response, friendliness, helpfulness, and efficiency go a long way.
Use a Rewards Program
One of the best ways to encourage customers to keep on coming back is to give them something extra just to thank them for being loyal to your brand. A loyalty program that provides customers with exclusive discounts, offers, and even free stuff can be one of the best ways to do this. According to research, over 70% of customers are more likely to shop with a business that offers a loyalty program, because customers want to feel appreciated and that they are getting the best possible deal when spending their money. Loyalty programs offering things such as a free item on every tenth purchase, for example, can be a great way to keep customers coming back continuously in order to take advantage of the deal.
Listen to Your Customers
Sometimes, businesses get so caught up in what they want for the brand that they forget the most important thing; the customer’s needs, wants, and opinions. If you’re not collecting customer feedback, or doing nothing at all with the feedback that customers give you, your target audience is going to feel like you don’t really care what they want – and likely take their business elsewhere. Every business should make an effort to gather feedback from customers and take it into account when making future decisions. For example, if customers complain about difficult navigation on your website, redesign it, and tell customers about it, so that they know you’re taking their concerns into account and making changes based on them.
Make it Convenient
There’s no denying that customers love convenience; it’s something that you simply can’t offer enough of. That’s why huge eCommerce brands like Amazon have done so well because they offer an unrivaled degree of convenience to customers that are difficult to find elsewhere. When selling online, simple features like guest checkout, suggested products and saved wishlists and card details can make it easier for customers to get what they want and make all the difference to the experience that they have when shopping with your brand.
Also Read
Driving customer loyalty is important to the success of your online business. Use these tactics to encourage your customers to keep returning.
